Five things you need to know about New Jersey jobs

Job applicants wait in line to be interviewed during a May 3 job fair on the boardwalk sponsored by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the Seaside Heights Business Improvement District.
(Photo: DOUG HOOD/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

New Jersey’s job market continued to jog in place in May, a report released Thursday showed, unable to catch up with the rest of the nation that appears to be gaining speed.

The state’s residents found more jobs last month, lowering the unemployment rate to 6.8 percent from 6.9 percent. But they may have wound up as contractors or working for companies in other states, because New Jersey employers reduced their payrolls by 1,500 workers during the month.

In short, it leaves the Garden State where it has been for the better part of a decade: searching for answers on how to pick up the pace.

Five questions:

1. How far behind are we? Far. The U.S. in May added 217,000 jobs. If New Jersey had held its own, it would have added closer to 6,000 jobs. Moreover, the nation last month finally regained the nearly 9 million jobs that were lost during the recession. New Jersey, however, has regained only about 40 percent of the 254,600 jobs that it lost.

In New Jersey, “it’s been stagnant over the month and stagnant over the year,” said Patrick J. O’Keefe, director of economic research for the accounting firm CohnReznick.

2. Why us? Like the rest of the nation, many office jobs have been replaced by technology and globalization. But New Jersey has suffered in three of its key sectors: housing has been stifled by the state’s lengthy foreclosure process; its once-powerful pharmaceutical industry has consolidated; and tourism continues to recover from superstorm Sandy. Meantime, it doesn’t have the natural resources to capitalize on the energy resurgence seen in other states.

3. What’s the word on the street? Timothy Hickey, 54, of Barnegat, left his retail management job a few years ago to care for his aging parents. They since have died, but he is having little luck returning to the work force. He wants to find a job within 30 miles of his home, but the search has left him disheartened.

“I don’t even know if I can calculate the miniscule percentage of the responses from the resumes I’ve sent out,” he said. “If I can find decent work that paid $40,000 or $45,000 a year, I wouldn’t be a rich man, but I wouldn’t have to worry about paying my bills. I just can’t get a nibble.”

4. Who were the winners and losers in May? Leisure and hospitality added 4,700 jobs; retail trade, transportation and utilities added 2,800 jobs; and construction added 1,600 jobs. On the flip side, business services lost 3,300 jobs; financial activities lost 2,000 jobs; and the public sector lost 1,300 jobs.

5. What can New Jersey lawmakers do to provide a spark? Conservatives would argue for tax cuts. Liberals would argue for extra spending on transportation projects. But for now, the state’s hands are tied. It is trying to fill a budget shortfall of more than $800 million this year and balance the budget for next year.

“It’s hard to see doing anything more than the current policy given the fiscal environment,” Rutgers University economist Joseph J. Seneca said.